


Bloodlines

by BnB (The_Third_Time)



Series: Where We Belong [3]
Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha/Omega, F/F, Omega Verse, Omegaverse, alpha!Kassandra, omega!Daphnae
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-01-31 07:36:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21442576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Third_Time/pseuds/BnB
Summary: Daphnae and Kassandra try to make Sparta home for their daughter.
Relationships: Daphnae/Kassandra (Assassin's Creed)
Series: Where We Belong [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1268675
Comments: 43
Kudos: 168





	1. Family

**Author's Note:**

> Series Recap: Kassandra and Daphnae reunite after seven years when the Order of Ancients attack Chios. They go to Makedonia and work with Darius to kill the Huntsman. When it’s over, they agree to live in Sparta and raise their daughter Chara there.
> 
> And, as usual, mandatory warning of **OMEGAVERSE**.

_“You seek me, huntress?”_

_“My sisters tell me you slew the white lion that had set upon Epidauros. Single-handedly. Is this true?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“What is your name?”_

_“Alekto of Sparta.”_

_“Alekto of Sparta. My name is Ianthe, and I lead the Daughters of Artemis.”_

* * *

The sun was rising, and Lakonia was in sight.

“That village is called Gytheion, little lamb. It’s where Sparta builds its ships. See that trireme over there? Your Uncle Alexios is helping build it.”

“Really? Can I help, too, Uncle Alexios? I want to help!”

“Easy there, pup. Let’s go to Sparta first, see your grandpater.”

“And Uncle Stentor?”

“I suppose. If it can’t be helped.”

Daphnae smiled. It was nice, Chara laughing with Myrrine and Alexios, the normalcy of their conversation. She stayed at the helm, content to watch and to listen from where she was. They were across the deck, but with her hearing, exceptional even for an omega, Daphnae caught every word and every beautiful, happy sound her daughter made.

Kassandra nuzzled her neck, pulled her into an embrace. “How are you feeling?” The question was soft, like the kiss placed on her mate mark.

“Anxious.” Daphnae closed her eyes. She leaned on her mate, breathed in the scent of alpha and ‘safe’ and ‘mine’. “Hopeful,” she admitted, though whispered.

Kassandra responded, not with words, but with a purr. It was strong and comforting, like everything about her mate. Daphnae let herself melt into it, into her alpha’s arms. Though she couldn’t see it, she knew Barnabas was watching them, as he often did, along with most of the Adrestia’s crew.

_“I’ve never seen Kassandra look that happy,”_ Odessa had said, _“and I was there when she found her mother.”_

_“It’s so good to see her smile again, to hear her laugh again,”_ Barnabas had told her, his voice trembling, his eyes teary. _“Thank you, Daphnae. Thank you.”_

Kassandra kissed her mate mark again, lingered a little longer this time. “I never stayed in Sparta long, spent most of my years at sea with the crew. First it was to keep my distance from Alexios, to spare him my feelings, my pain. He already had too much of his own. But after that, only my ruts kept me in Sparta.” Kassandra stopped talking, sighed and pulled her closer. “It didn’t feel like home, not even with my mother and Alexios.”

Daphnae turned around and kissed her mate softly. “Maybe now, with me, with Chara?”

“Maybe now,” Kassandra echoed, quiet but hopeful.

* * *

From Gytheion, they traveled by horseback. Myrrine led the way through the Forest of Eurotas, answering Chara’s many questions and telling stories in between. The elder omega spoke of Sparta with a lover’s fondness, but also with a wistfulness that Chara didn’t notice. The stories, often about Kassandra, Myrrine told with immense pride, which soon reflected in Chara’s eyes.

When Chara asked about the mountain to the west, however, Myrrine had little to say.

“It has a beautiful view, little lamb, but it’s a dangerous climb. Perhaps when you’re older.”

* * *

Daphnae had seen Sparta before, though only from afar. She was just a pup herself then. Her mother had taken her to Lakonia, to show her where the Lykaon Wolf would be, when the time came. She remembered most of all a statue - the tomb of Leonidas, her mother later explained - and the color red.

Spartan red, it was called, and how fitting, Daphnae saw now, for Spartans colored their structures in the distinct shade of red as they do their soldiers.

Sparta didn’t have walls. Still, the moment she set foot in it, Daphnae felt cornered by the stares and the whispers that followed her.

“That omega! Her scent.”

“The Eagle-Bearer mated an outsider?”

“And brings her here, along with their mongrel.”

Daphnae snarled at the male alpha who had spoken. At once, the Spartans fell silent, and those who dared to look at Chara focused back on her.

The male alpha had flinched, but now he met her eyes in challenge. It didn’t last. Soon, he was flinching again, and he was staring at the ground. That wasn’t enough. Daphnae wanted him choking on the soil, wanted his skull crushed under her heel.

Myrrine stepped between them, Chara in her arms. The elder omega, it seemed, had also just stopped Kassandra and Alexios from attacking the male alpha. Then Myrrine looked at her, and she understood why.

Myrrine wanted Sparta to see her, what she had just done: that she, an outsider, made a Spartan alpha cower. See her, they did, and now the Spartans looked at her in awe, with respect. It showed, too, in their words.

“The omega, a Daughter of Artemis?”

“She has to be.”

“Artemis’ omegas are more fierce than I’d heard.”

Myrrine, through it all, smiled at her. “Now, that, my girl, is how you properly introduce yourself to Spartans. Well done.”

* * *

Nikolaos and Stentor were outside the house when they arrived. Stentor looked exasperated with Nikolaos, who hadn’t even noticed them. The old male alpha paced, murmuring to himself. Chara’s name came up, and often.

Stentor sighed, loudly. “Pater, they’re here.”

Nikolaos didn’t hear Stentor, but he did, eventually, pick up their scents. He stopped, and then turned his wide eyes at them. He looked at Myrrine first, and he waited until the omega nodded before he did anything else. It reminded Daphnae of how Kassandra acted around her and Chara at the beginning.

Nikolaos cleared his throat, approaching them cautiously. “Daphnae. It’s good to see you. Here in Sparta, I mean. I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad…” he trailed off, and cleared his throat again. He looked at her, silently asking permission, which, like Myrrine, Daphnae gave with a nod. He smiled, the weariness on his face fading when he turned to Chara. “Hello, pup. I’m your grandpater. This is your Uncle Stentor. We’re so happy to finally meet you.”

Chara, as she had done with Kassandra, and later Alexios and then Myrrine, sniffed curiously at Nikolaos. It took far longer than it had with Alexios, so much that Nikolaos began to squirm, but Chara’s eyes eventually lit up in recognition.

“Grandpater!” Chara proclaimed, and Myrrine handed her over to Nikolaos.

Nikolaos, much like Kassandra the first time she held Chara, did so with tenderness, almost fear. Chara, however, felt no such qualms. She eagerly wrapped her little arms around Nikolaos’ neck.

Nikolaos let out a shaky breath, unable to muster any words. He didn’t move for a long time, barely breathing, as if unable to believe he had his granddaughter in his arms. When he did move, it was to bury his face in Chara’s hair.

“The hair on your face tickles, Grandpater!” Chara giggled, wiggling under Nikolaos’ nose but not making any real attempt to escape.

Nikolaos could only respond with a laugh of his own. He then began to nuzzle Chara, drawing out more giggles. Even Stentor couldn’t help but chuckle from Chara’s infectious laughter.

* * *

Daphnae didn’t think she would meet the Spartan king so soon, but here she now stood in Archidamos’ throne room, at Kassandra’s side. They, along with Myrrine, told the king about what had happened in Makedonia, and what the Order had done. Archidamos didn’t speak, only listened. When they finished, he rose from his throne.

“This Order of Ancients, is Persia’s king part of it like Pausinias was of the Cult?” As he asked this question, Archidamos glanced at the empty throne beside him. He sneered, though it was gone when he faced them again. Instead, he looked worn, like a haggard old man.

“A puppet, at most, My King,” Myrrine said, and while there was humility and submission in the elder omega’s words, she spoke with confidence and authority. “As was Pausinias.”

Archidamos sighed. Clearly, it wasn’t what he had hoped to hear. “The Greek world is divided. This… peace with Athens is failing. Should Persia wage war on us, we would not survive, not as we are, not while we war amongst ourselves.”

“It wasn’t war the Order wanted, King Archidamos,” Daphnae answered this time. “It was us.” She reached for Kassandra’s hand, pulling her mate closer.

“You’ve cut them down, then, to the last man?” Archidamos asked.

Kassandra nodded. “In Makedonia, yes. Though there remains that incompetent fool, Teutamos.”

“He will be removed. What of the rest of the Order?”

“In Persia. They shall be dealt with.”

“By whom?”

“Darius.”

“You trust this man?”

“He seeks vengeance for his family, and what remains of it. But should he fail, Daphnae and I will not.”

“I see.” Archidamos looked at their hands, and then their necks. His eyes widened. “You’re mated. You’re mates.” To Kassandra, he said, “But you are not proven, and Daphnae is no Spartan.”

Kassandra growled, and Daphnae saw a Spartan king flinch. Before she could see a Spartan king cower, however, Myrrine intervened. It took nothing more than a gentle press of the elder omega’s hand on Kassandra’s chest to stop the furious growling. Kassandra quieted to a soft rumble, but she continued to glower at Archidamos.

“My King, they are, indeed, unproven.” Myrrine looked at her, like she was seeing something else, someone else. “But make no mistake: Daphnae is Spartan. She is Alekto’s daughter.”

“Alekto?” Archidamos was stunned, at first, and then he sneered. “That failure. That coward? She never proved herself fit to sire, and now you tell me she had abandoned Sparta to breed with an outsider?”

“She was no failure, no coward!” Daphnae roared, so suddenly that she surprised herself as much as she did Archidamos.

Archidamos cleared his throat, stalling until he regained his composure. “Tell me, then. What became of your father?”

“A duel to the death. She died a warrior, fighting.”

“Who bested her? Who took her life?”

Daphnae paused, but she didn’t flinch, nor did she cast her eyes down. Then she answered, clearly: “My mother.”

* * *

They were barely out of the throne room when Kassandra began snarling at Myrrine. “You had no right, Mater! That was not your decision to make!”

Daphnae touched Kassandra’s arm, stopping her mate. “How did you know?” she asked Myrrine. “I never told Kassandra my father’s name. How did you know?”

Myrrine didn’t speak, not until they were elsewhere. She brought them to the tomb of Leonidas.

“I knew your father, Daphnae,” Myrrine said, and suddenly, the shadow cast by Leonidas’ statue felt bigger, heavier. “I suspected when Kassandra first told me about you, that you are like us. Then when I met you, I knew for certain. Your scent, Daphnae, part of is your father’s.”

Daphnae breathed. She leaned on Kassandra. “You remember her scent?”

“We were close, your father and I.” Myrrine’s smile turned pained, sad. “She was a dear friend, the alpha my parents had chosen to be my mate. And she was the reason I mated the alpha I loved instead.”

“Because of my mother?”

“It would seem so.” Myrrine sighed, and then looked up, at Leonidas’ statue. “Your father and I had known since we were pups our duty to our bloodlines. It was one my father fulfilled, as did his mother, and many, many generations past. Alekto was the strongest alpha of my time, a Spartan alpha, through and through. She would have been victorious in the alpha rites, easily, effortlessly. But when she returned to Sparta for the final trial, she was different, changed. She asked me if I loved Nikolaos, if I would mate her despite. I said yes, and that was the last I saw of her.”

Daphnae felt Kassandra squeeze her hand. It anchored her, her mate’s presence and scent, the reminder and proof that she was not alone.

“You shouldn’t have told Archidamos, Mater,” Kassandra growled. “Now, when he looks at Daphnae, all he’ll see is a Spartan.”

“As he should,” Myrrine declared, chin held high. “As should all of Sparta. Daphnae is Spartan, same as you, Kassandra. Same as Chara. Accept it, embrace it, because only then can we be a family. Isn’t that why you’re here, lamb? Isn’t this what your daughter deserves?”

“It is,” Daphnae answered, knowing it was up to her.

“It is,” Kassandra echoed.

“Good,” Myrrine praised, touching their faces. “Now, let’s go home.”

* * *

Once there, Chara was the first to greet them. “Mater! Pater!” Their pup came running and jumping, but Daphnae was ready. She caught Chara, laughing even when she lost balance because Kassandra was there, steadying them and holding them.

“Hello, little bird,” she cooed as she nuzzled their giggling pup.

“We missed you, Chara,” Kassandra said, ruffling their pup’s hair. “Did you have fun with your uncles and your grandpater?”

Chara nodded, smile as bright as the sun. “I played a hunting game with Uncle Alexios and Uncle Stentor, and then we helped Grandpater clean the house. Mater, Pater, Grandpater says we can have the biggest room in the house! It has a big bed!”

“It sure does, little lamb,” Myrrine chimed in, tapping Chara’s nose. “Lots and lots of space for you and your parents, and all the baby sisters you’ll have.”

“I’m gonna have more than one baby sister?”

“Why, of course! Your mater and pater are mates now, Chara. You’ll have baby sisters before you know it.”

“I can’t wait! Can we go to the room, Mater, Pater?” Chara asked, bouncing in Daphnae’s arms from excitement. “I want you to see it!”

“We’d love to see the room, Chara,” Daphnae said.

“Yes,” Kassandra agreed. “Anything for you, little bird.”

* * *

_“Another pelt, and so soon. The Kretan Bull is a formidable beast. You are impressive, indeed, Alekto.”_

_“But another beast will take its place, will it not, Ianthe? That strange artifact that took the shape of its horn, it’s what changed the beast, wasn’t it?”_

_“Did you leave it, as I told you?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“You understand, then. It is how things are, how they have to be, by Artemis’ will.”_

_“And what happens, Daughter, when I’ve slain the last beast? What then will your goddess demand?”_

_“Bring me its pelt, Spartan, and you shall see.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To anyone who hasn’t read Chara or has forgotten since it’s been so long: I put my own spin on the legendary beasts. Each beast has a small Isu artifact on it that caused it to change (like the mythical creatures in the game). It also explains why the legendary beasts keep coming back. Kassandra broke the pattern when she started collecting the pieces.
> 
> The outline isn’t done, but it’s been over a month and I wanted to post. I hope this will get me writing faster, but I may take at least two weeks to update since I’m working on two stories at the same time.


	2. Pack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bumped the rating to M for implied sex. It's really very mild, though.

_“They’re not fond of me, the other Spartan alphas. I see how they look at me, how they glare.”_

_“It’s nothing more than wounded alpha pride, Ianthe. Every one of them believes they can conquer Artemis' hunt, but you’ve chosen me. In our journey through the Greek world, there have been no challenges greater than the mighty beasts you’ve tasked me to kill. The honor is mine. The glory is mine.”_

_“And what does it prove, should you succeed?”_

_“That I am the most worthy alpha, the most worthy sire.”_

_“A most worthy sire, I think you’ll prove to be, Alekto.”_

* * *

Kassandra awoke to Daphnae’s heartbeats and Chara’s purring. It was surreal to have her mate and her daughter in her arms, and for them to be in her childhood home. Their scents filled the room, and Kassandra felt a warmth she thought she’d never know again.

Chara woke next, greeting her with a nuzzle she happily returned. By then, she heard voices around the house, first Myrrine’s and Nikolaos’, then Alexios’ and Stentor’s.

“How did you sleep, little bird?” she asked, whispering so as not to disturb Daphnae.

“Good, Pater,” Chara whispered back, smiling. “No bad dreams.”

“I’m glad.” Kassandra didn’t know whether it was Ikaros’ continued vigil that kept Chara’s nightmares at bay, or if they had simply gone. She and Daphnae wished desperately that they had.

“I think your grandmater is going to start cooking soon,” she told their pup. “Do you want to help her, little bird? I’ll stay here with your mater.”

Chara’s eyes lit up, and soon, she was scurrying off the bed. Kassandra laughed, easily scooping Chara back up for a hug. Then she let go, and watched with a smile as Chara excitedly got dressed, wearing the very garment she herself had worn when she was a pup.

Daphnae, sensing Chara’s loss, began to stir. Kassandra pulled her mate closer, able to now that their pup was not on her other arm. She purred for Daphnae, more and stronger until her mate finally relaxed.

Daphnae had trouble sleeping last night. Not surprising, but no less upsetting. Kassandra herself hadn’t fared any better.

But Chara, Chara was so happy.

Kassandra nuzzled Daphnae’s neck, seeking her omega’s mate mark and scent. She breathed, and closed her eyes.

* * *

When she woke up again, it was to Daphnae’s hot breath on her neck, to Daphnae growling hungrily and mounting her. Kassandra reached down and grasped Daphnae’s hips, but it wasn’t to stop her mate.

She didn’t, couldn’t deny Daphnae back in the ruins in Makedonia, when their relationship, their lives had been so uncertain. She later tried, foolishly, when she went into a rut. She would do no such thing now.

She presented her neck to her mate, happily, eagerly. Daphnae was a strong omega, both in body and will. If Kassandra had one Spartan inclination, it was that meek, frail omegas made for poor mates, and poorer mothers.

As went the Spartan saying taught to her when she was just a pup, and remained with her since: real omegas ruled alphas.

And Daphnae? Daphnae was her queen, whom she would serve for the rest of her life, and serve, she did, as an alpha should her mate.

Daphnae spoke only two words throughout. “My love,” her mate said with purr, tender as it was possessive, and it was all Kassandra needed to hear.

* * *

They couldn’t get tied, not with the short time alone they had. They made do, staying close, connected. Daphnae lay on top of her, warm inside and out, and Kassandra kissed and touched what she could of her mate until their ragged panting softened to slow breaths and whispers of, “I love you.”

Then they were quiet, calm. It was Daphnae who spoke first after that, asking a question.

“Does it bother you that we don’t have the bed to ourselves at night?”

“No,” Kassandra was quick to say, and it was the truth. “I love having Chara here, close to us.” 

Daphnae smiled, though not much, and began stroking her face, her hair. “I never had to consider this, having a mate, having you.” Daphnae paused to touch the large scar on her chest. “My mother taught me very little about alphas, and nothing about mating. Nothing about raising a pup with my mate. It was knowledge I didn’t need, I wouldn’t use, she would tell me. Knowledge she herself didn’t have to give.”

Kassandra reached for Daphnae’s hand, covering it with hers. She considered her words carefully. Daphnae rarely talked about her mother, whose name she didn’t even know. “Was your mother always so strict?” she asked.

Daphnae looked at their hands, and then into her eyes. “There was always a coldness to her, a harshness I didn’t understand when I was a pup. It was how her own mother had raised her. She loved me, and I felt that she did, but I also felt such distance.”

“You’re not like with Chara,” Kassandra couldn’t help but say. She saw it, not just with how Daphnae treated Chara, but how Phratagouné did as well. Chara was cherished, openly, by Daphnae and all the Daughters.

“No, I wasn’t.” Daphnae shook her head. She sighed. “My mother prepared me for the same life she had lived, and I couldn’t do it, not with you, not with Chara. I wasn’t much of a Daughter. I wonder what she would think of me now, and what she would do in my place.”

Kassandra squeezed Daphnae’s hand. “Can I ask what happened to her?”

Daphnae nodded, and then nuzzled her neck, where her mate mark was. “Her grief consumed her, over the years. Eventually, it took away her will to fight, and one day, while in Argolis, it took her will to live.”

* * *

They joined the family at the table. Everyone had been waiting for them.

Her mother waved off an apology before they could even attempt it, saying, “You’re mates. It’s only natural to need time for yourselves, and very healthy for a couple in their prime. Besides that, I’m glad the room is being used by mates again.”

The room had been her parents’. When her mother returned to Sparta, she took it for herself. After the war, her father was welcomed in the house, but not the room. Her parents were mates, and would be for the rest of their lives, but her mother felt no more love for her father.

Her father never asked for forgiveness. He knew he didn’t deserve it, and it showed now, with how he kept his head down.

“Aren’t you and Grandpater mates, Grandmater?” Chara asked, and Kassandra looked at Daphnae, wondering what they should say to their pup.

Her mother, though, already knew. “Yes, of course, little lamb, but that room is for mated maters and paters who’ll be having more pups, not for grandmaters and grandpaters who already had all of theirs. That’s why it’s the biggest one in the house.”

There went her mother about pups again, pushing them, pushing Daphnae.

Kassandra tried her best not to growl at her mother, and she only succeeded because Daphnae touched her knee under the table. Across her, Alexios looked just as upset with what their mother said, but with Chara next to him, he forced a smile.

They began to eat, and her mother, being the matriarch of the house, planned the day for the omegas.

“We’ll go to the school and spend the morning with the other omegas and their pups. What will you be doing, Stentor?”

Stentor sat up straighter, if it were possible. He was always eager to impress. “To the alpha school with me today. Alphas need to be taught young to learn that betas are their leaders and their kings and queens, else they’d turn out like, well,” he paused to gesture at Kassandra and Alexios, “these two.”

Kassandra snorted. “Then you’d better find a beta who’s actually one of those things if you want to train those alpha pups right.”

“Hah!” Alexios barked out a laugh, slamming a hand on the table.

Stentor rolled his eyes. “Hopeless,” he grumbled.

“Pater, Uncle Alexios,” Chara whined, “you promised you’d be nicer to Uncle Stentor.”

“You did promise,” Daphnae pointed out, in a chiding tone that was eerily close to their mother’s, and both Kassandra and Alexios slumped in their seats.

“Sorry,” they mumbled.

“What was that?” Stentor taunted, and never had a man looked so smug while hiding behind a pup. “I couldn’t quite understand what my dear sister and brother said. Repeat yourselves, please.”

They glared at him, the most threatening thing they were allowed to do, but it only made his face more unbearably annoying. Their father was no help, and Kassandra could have sworn he was smiling as he ate. Their mother, like Daphnae, looked at them expectantly.

So, with matching sighs, she and Alexios said again, clearly, “Sorry.”

Chara smiled, and Kassandra forgot why she wanted to smash Stentor’s face on the table.

“It’s a start,” Stentor goaded, but Kassandra wasn’t baited. Neither was Alexios, who also basked in Chara’s approval.

“Ah. Alphas,” their mother murmured, amused. “Kassandra, perhaps you’d like to go with Stentor? I’m sure the alpha pups would love to have you train them today.”

Chara bounced on her seat. “Can I train with Pater, too?”

“Alphas and omegas go to different schools, little lamb,” her mother said.

Chara frowned. “Pater’s not going with us?”

Hearing the disappointment in Chara’s voice was enough to make Kassandra snap at her mother, but again, she didn’t, because of Daphnae.

“I’ll take you there, little bird,” she assured their pup instead, because that, at least, her mother would allow.

* * *

The omega school was located in the heart of Sparta, for they were held in the hearts of Spartans as well. It was where her mother spent most of her time since returning to Sparta.

They arrived before the first lesson of the day began. Among the omegas were a few women, those who had bred with alphas and those married to men but had been fortunate enough to bear an omega pup.

The mothers and their pups were silent now, and stared, but unlike yesterday, it was more out of awe and curiosity. Kassandra stood close to Daphnae and Chara, whom her mate held, and made sure her mate mark was on display.

An omega stood, one she was familiar with. “So the mighty Eagle-Bearer has finally been claimed,” the omega said, and then smiled, “and by whom she’d always belonged to. Thank the gods.”

“Zopheras,” Kassandra greeted the omega warmly. Zopheras had been one of the omegas Myrrine wanted her to mate, and instead became her closest friend in Sparta. Zopheras yelled at her, and often, during her ruts, to go to Chios and see Daphnae. She wished she had listened sooner.

Zopheras walked to them, holding her daughter Melita’s hand, an omega pup about Chara’s age. “Hello, Daphnae. We’re happy to have you and your pup here in the school. Melita,” she said to her pup, “say hello.”

“Hello!” Melita smiled at Daphnae, and then at Chara. “What’s your name?”

Chara, instead of responding just as cheerfully, clung tighter to Daphnae and hid her face from Melita. Chara was feeling shy, and Kassandra realized why: Chara had never been around other pups before.

Daphnae petted Chara’s hair, purring soothingly for their pup. “It’s okay, little bird. Melita just wants to know your name.”

“She wants to be friends,” Kassandra added.

It took a little more encouragement from Daphnae, but Chara eventually felt brave enough to look at Melita. When she saw that Melita was still smiling, she smiled back. “Hi. My name is Chara.”

Daphnae set Chara down, and Melita stepped forward, taking Chara’s hand. “Do you and your mater want to sit with me and my mater?”

“Can we, Mater?” Chara asked, already sounding more like herself.

Daphnae laughed softly and bent down to kiss Chara on the head. “Of course, little bird.”

Kassandra watched the pups go, hand in hand. Seeing it, the way Chara’s face lit up, Kassandra felt for the first time that Sparta was the right choice for her family. That, maybe, her mother was right.

“Thank you, Zopheras,” Daphnae said. “Melita is a very sweet pup.”

“As is Chara, I have no doubt.” Zopheras smiled. “We are pack, Daphnae. We are kin.”

“Yes,” her mother agreed. “We are Spartan.”

* * *

“You’re here?” Stentor sputtered when she arrived at the alpha school. “You’re here.”

Kassandra laughed. She expected the reaction, but not how funny Stentor would look. “I’m here,” she said. Ever since they regained their Spartan citizenship, her mother had asked her to help train the alpha pups at the school. This was the first time she actually went.

It was time to try, she decided.

The alpha pups were thrilled to see her. They were eager to learn and listen, and Kassandra discovered that she was happy to teach.

When it was time to eat, Stentor sat with her, actually looking impressed, and friendly. It was a little strange, but also nice. “I appreciate that you followed my lead during training,” he said, “and that you didn’t defy me in front of the pups.”

“You’re my brother, Stentor, and I give you shit, but I know the time and place for it,” she told him. “Those pups would have learned the wrong lessons if I challenged you. I know how dangerous that can be. I’ve seen what terrible things alphas can become when they follow no laws or principles.”

“I think it’s commendable that you didn’t turn out the same, being exposed to the likes of bandits and mercenaries when you were just a pup.”

“I may have been just a pup, but even I knew that being strong didn’t mean I could take whatever and whoever I wanted.”

Stentor hesitated at first, but he put a hand on her shoulder. “You know, for as much as you deny it, you say things only a Spartan would say.”

“I know.”

Stentor dropped his hand, and they both ate in silence for a while. Then, he asked, “Have you thought about doing your alpha rites?”

Oddly, Kassandra didn’t want to snap at him for asking. “I see no point. I’ve already been all over the Greek world. I’ve killed legendary beasts, I’ve hunted down the Cult of Kosmos. I’ve proven my strength, and Daphnae and I are already mates.”

“You could still do the last trial of the rites,” Stentor said. “You didn’t journey with any other alphas, and you’re the strongest one in Sparta, no doubt. You’ll best them all in combat, and all at once. It’d all be just for show, but you would be embracing what Daphnae’s father walked away from.”

* * *

_“Do you have a lover waiting for you in Sparta, Alekto?”_

_“A mate-to-be. She is my closest friend. I care for her, and she cares for me. That is enough, to have pups with her, to continue our bloodlines.”_

_“It’s duty, then. Not love.”_

_“Is that strange to you, Ianthe?”_

_“No. Not at all.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taking a break for the holidays. Aiming to update on 1st or 2nd week of January.


	3. Spartan

_“Do you ever wonder what we are, Ianthe, how we came to be?”_

_“I don’t wonder, Alekto. I know. We came from the gods, for whom we serve a purpose.”_

_“And you’ve never questioned your purpose?”_

_“No. Neither did my mother, nor her mother. Why should I? Why do you, Alekto?”_

_“I didn’t, Ianthe, until I met you.”_

* * *

“How does it compare, Daphnae, a Spartan’s life to a Daughter of Artemis’?”

Daphnae had been expecting the question from Zopheras. The other omega spoke her mind, and bluntly, a trait defining of Spartan omegas. It reminded Daphnae of her sisters, and how much she missed them.

“Sparta is…” Daphnae paused. “Better. Sparta is better for Chara.” It was difficult to say out loud, to admit it, but it was true, as real as Chara’s laughter.

She easily found her daughter among all the other omega pups. Chara was dressed like the other pups now, having finally gotten a garment made for Spartan omega pups. It was different from the one Kassandra had, made instead of finely-woven linen and dyed purple.

What riches Sparta cared to have, it spent on its omegas. They were Sparta’s real treasure.

It felt strange, the soft material, how comfortable it was.

Daphnae and Zopheras watched the omega pups play fight. Chara was faster and stronger, and she didn’t hold back. The matriarchs encouraged it, Myrrine especially, and it won over the omega pups.

“Chara’s certainly taken to being a Spartan,” Zopheras remarked.

“She has,” Daphnae agreed, and she said it with pride.

Chara thrived in the omega school, and not just with the training and hunting practice. She enjoyed all the lessons, be it history or poetry. She loved to dance, even though she lacked in grace and rhythm. She had a beautiful singing voice. She learned a lullaby from Myrrine that, when she sung, it brought Kassandra to tears.

“And you, Daphnae? Do you feel like a Spartan?”

Four months in Sparta. She should. The omegas treated her like peer and pack. She hunted with them, sparred against the alphas with them, did everything a Spartan omega her age did.

At night, she visited the temple of Artemis, though she never stepped inside.

When asked by the matriarchs when she would do her omega rites, she told them what she told Zopheras now.

“I don’t know.” Then, she said, “I don’t know if I’ll ever feel like a Spartan.”

Zopheras hugged her. Daphnae tensed, still unused to how affectionate Spartan omegas were to each other, but she didn’t push Zopheras away. She relaxed soon enough, when Zopheras began to purr.

“I never told Kassandra this,” Zopheras began to say, “but if I hadn’t met her, I would have left Sparta and joined the Daughters. Ever since I was a pup, I heard stories about the Daughters of Artemis, omegas who were not bound to alphas or the laws of men. I envied them, wanted to have the freedom Artemis had given them. I wanted to travel, to see a world beyond Sparta.”

“Meeting Kassandra changed your mind?” Daphnae couldn’t help but wonder out loud. “But she feels such anger towards Sparta.”

“And pain, so much of it,” Zopheras added, nodding. “When I found out what Sparta had done to her, what her own father had done, I knew I couldn’t leave. Sparta is not perfect, but it is my home, my people. Leaving would have been selfish, cowardly. Sparta has to change, to be better, and it’s on us omegas to lead the way.”

* * *

“Myrrine. Kassandra.”

“My King.”

Unlike her mother, Kassandra didn’t return Archidamos’ greeting. The ephors were there, flanking the thrones, and they were staring at her. “Why am I here?” she asked.

“Kassandra of House Agiad,” one of the ephors spoke, an old woman, unmistakably Spartan. “You have been found worthy of the throne.”

“King? Me?” Kassandra almost scoffed. No alpha had been a king of Sparta before. Even her grandfather Leonidas, often thought to be an alpha because of Thermopylae, was a beta.

“I can think of no one else to rule alongside,” Archidamos said. “You won Megaris and Boeotia for Sparta before you won back your Spartan citizenship. When the ephors and I took Pausinias’ word over yours and he lured me out to sea, surrounded me with an Athenian fleet, you came to my rescue with nothing but your spear and your wits. You freed not only Sparta from the Cult of Kosmos, but the rest of the Greek world as well.”

“You will be Sparta’s first alpha king, and Daphnae, its first omega queen,” her mother declared, commanding the room as she always did, no matter the audience. “Together, you will lead Sparta into a new age.”

* * *

Daphnae heard it first from Myrrine, when the matriarch returned to the omega school.

“The decision is yours to make, Daphnae,” Myrrine told her. “I urge you to consider it, and to make Kassandra realize this is what’s best for our family.”

In the distance, Chara danced with Melita, the two pups laughing as they tripped on each other’s feet.

“What does this mean for Chara?” she asked Myrrine.

“She will be heir to the throne, and to all of Sparta.”

Daphnae had dreaded the answer. “I hoped to give Chara a life different from mine and Kassandra’s.”

“And she will have that,” Myrrine said, with the same certainty her mother had of Artemis and Daughter law. “Daphnae, I know what you want for Chara: an ordinary life, the sort you and Kassandra didn’t have. But we are fighting our own war, one that spans as far back as our bloodlines can be traced, and we are losing.

My father realized this. He knew he would die in Thermopylae, that he had to, to ensure my future. I’m his only child, and he wanted me to be queen, to rule Sparta with your father. Spartan law forbids alphas and omegas from ruling. My mother fought to change it until the day she died. I stopped when your father left Sparta. In doing so, I handed the throne to the Cult, and I lost my pups.

I failed my father and I failed my bloodline, but you, Daphnae, you and Kassandra have righted the course. Yet, that’s only half the battle. The Order of Ancients will return. They will never stop hunting you, and more like them will follow. Let them come to Sparta, show them what happens to fools who dare threaten its queen and her family.”

* * *

Kassandra had gone to Gytheion, needing to be away from Sparta for now, else she would taken Daphnae and Chara away. There, she found Alexios with the shipbuilders. She joined him, helping carry the heavier materials from the warehouse to the docks.

After, she told Alexios, and his reaction was similar to hers.

“King? You?” he said, but then he shrugged. “Why not? Makes sense to me.”

“What? It makes no sense,” she grumbled. “I’ve only just started ‘acting like a proper Spartan alpha’, and Mater’s already talked Archidamos and the ephors into making me king? Just how scary is she?”

Alexios chuckled. “Sparta’s first alpha king ‘because her mater said so’. It doesn’t get any more Spartan than that.”

Kassandra had to agree. Spartan alphas were at their omegas’ beck and call, be it their mothers, their mates, or their omega pups. It was their true nature, after all, and Sparta took great pride in enforcing it.

Real omegas ruled alphas, and real alphas followed them.

“So, Daphnae agreed?”

“She wasn’t there.”

“They only met with you? What?” Alexios snorted. “Some Spartans they are. You’d think our own king would know: to get an answer from an alpha, you ask their omega. You know that, I know that, and we haven’t lived in Sparta nearly as long. And the Spartan ephor is an old woman, is she? Of course she is. Betas.”

“Mater says they’re slow to change, but they’re listening, and they’re willing.”

“They better be, especially if Daphnae says yes.”

* * *

When Daphnae and Kassandra saw each other, halfway to and from Sparta, they didn’t speak. Daphnae kissed Kassandra, urgent and demanding. They went to a spring, what used to be one of three Daughter haunts in Lakonia. It was their favorite.

Daphnae had Kassandra naked by the time she was pushing the alpha down on the thick furs laid out by the water. Kassandra was pliant under Daphnae, the omega mounting her swiftly and riding her until they were tied.

Then they were still. Daphnae breathed, calm now, sated. She clung to Kassandra, nose pressed to the alpha’s neck.

Kassandra broke the silence, whispering, “We don’t have to stay here, Daphnae. We can leave, go to your sisters in Lesbos. It’d be how we wanted, when you asked me to stay and be with you.”

Daphnae opened her eyes, Kassandra’s mate mark the first thing she saw. “You would do this? Leave Sparta?”

“Yes.” There was no pause, no hesitation in Kassandra’s response. “We’ll raise our pups with your sisters, just as we planned.”

Daphnae sat up, held steady by Kassandra. They were still tied, and would remain so for a while yet. The omega then shook free of her peplos. It had been left on in their haste and frenzy, and seemed it would survive, unlike Kassandra’s clothing. The alpha’s hands roamed the now bare skin, drawing an appreciative sigh from her mate.

The distraction having passed, Daphnae braced a hand on Kassandra’s chest, right over the large scar there. “What about your parents, your brothers?” the omega asked.

“If you’ll allow it, they are welcome to join us.”

“And Chara, what will we tell her? That she’d have to leave Melita and all the omega pups she’s made friends with?”

For that, Kassandra had no answer. The alpha frowned. She clutched her mate’s hand. “You don’t have to be Spartan, Daphnae, let alone its queen. We don’t have to go to your sisters. We can go somewhere else, find a place for ourselves. I don’t care where, as long as it’s with you and Chara, as long as we’re free.”

Daphnae stared at their hands. She kissed Kassandra’s scarred knuckles. “My love, there may be no such place.”

* * *

_“Go back to Sparta, Alekto. Mate your omega, have your pups. Serve your purpose as I have mine.”_

_“You are my omega, Ianthe, and you are carrying our pup.”_

_“Leave. Please. While you still can, before my sisters wake. I’m begging you. I’m begging you.”_

_“I can’t do that.”_

_“You know what I have to do, that I must.”_

_“I know.”_

_“I love you. I’m sorry.”_

_“I know.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update: this fic is on a brief hiatus while I figure out what to do and try to get to a point in WoW where I don't have to play as much as I am right now. I'm going to continue the series for sure, I promise. The issue is whether to keep adding chapters to this story or to start a new one.


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